The United States tends to focus its efforts of combating terrorism using a global approach. It is true that threats from external aggression are detrimental hence the government needs to use everything it can to deter them from happening. However, it seems that the authorities have forgotten about the impact of home-grown terrorism. Most of the time, the US military is involved in peace-keeping missions all over the globe (Zhang, Shoemaker & Wang, 2013). To a large extent, peace ensues to the regions where the US military is sent to. Additionally, the government ensures that all the borders are sealed properly so that terrorists do not gain access to the country. Nevertheless, a lot of lives continue to be lost within our borders. Different stakeholders are divided on the causes of the domestic threats.
One of the arguments towards the cause of the domestic terror is that the government does not have guidelines that are strict enough in regard to how individuals get US citizenship. In the process of attempting to help solve the refugee crisis in the world, the US admits citizens from different nationalities, some who may not have good motives. The various security authorities often discover that the terrorists take a lot of time to plan and execute their attacks. The first thing that the foreigners try to do is to get the US citizenship so that whenever the security personnel prompt them for identification documents, they provide them readily. As a result, the authorities do not conduct any further investigations into the activities of such individuals.
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Rodriguez (2014) points out that the racial composition of the US makes it difficult for the authorities to identify any people with ill motives. Majority of the countries around the world often have distinct racial or ethnic identities, hence making it easy for the security authorities to identify any foreigners and consequently conduct follow-ups. Rodriguez further suggests that logistical problems at various airports make some individuals to take advantage of the weaknesses to gain access into the country, as well as infiltrate illegal weapons into the country. One of the challenges in the various airports is that screening equipment tend to be expensive. As a result, airports do not find it economical to purchase a lot of the screening equipment or to install them in several places around the airport. Secondly, airports may have inadequate staff to conduct the security checks. Airport staff also get worn out when doing the checks and may not be keen at times. Especially when many people queue to be checked, the security personnel at the airport are usually in a hurry to clear the passengers. Lastly, many security people at the airport may not want to appear as if they are harassing the passengers. As such, they may not be too keen.
On the contrary, the US has not witnessed any significant attacks in the recent past or presently from individuals who have not lived in the US for long. Most of the attacks that have been carried out are from US citizens who were born and bred in the country. Arguably, one of the leading causes is the US lack of tough laws on gun holding and licensing (Monroe, 2017). Analysts assert that in every ten US citizens, four people have guns. Additionally, the law is not very clear on the minimum age that individuals are allowed to possess guns. The law also does not have provisions on the minimum number of firearms, which individuals can hold. As a result, people can possess firearms at any age and can hold any number of firearms they wish.
Perhaps the most important question that ought to be asked is, does the government care about the integrity of the individuals that are issued with guns? Conventional wisdom points out that a significant number of people do not have sufficient moral ability to possess the guns. Some people have mental disorders and upon provocation, will not hesitate to attack their victims using the firearms in their possession. Cases of individuals who are mentally disturbed carrying out mass shootings have been on the rise in the US (Rodriguez, 2014). Sometimes it is challenging to establish the motive behind such attacks because the perpetrators of such heinous acts kill themselves before they are arrested.
Conclusively, before the US government focusses on ensuring that peace and stability prevail in different parts of the world, it ought to protect its citizens too. It is not wise for a significant part of the budget to be allocated towards international military interventions when the citizens are being killed by individuals who take advantage of the shortfalls of the system to inflict harm to members of the public. Currently, people cannot gather in public places without being weary of their security. Almost everyone thinks that there is a malicious individual somewhere planning to attack them. The US prides itself as a developed country yet it cannot control how gun licensing ought to be done (Monroe, 2017). Most of the external intervention efforts are complex compared to the problem of domestic gun handling. Majority of the countries in the world do not allow just any citizen to be in possession of a firearm. On the contrary, only individuals who are at high risk are allowed to possess guns. Even so, the authorities ensure that the individuals do not have a bad criminal record. It is time the US revisited its gun policy if at all the government wants to curb cases of domestic terrorism.
References
Monroe, L. R. (2017). How Do Counterterrorism Policies Influence Domestic Terrorism on Military Installations (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).
Rodriguez, A. L. (2014). A Comparative Study of Domestic Terrorism: An Empirical Evaluation of Security Responses by the United States and Great Britain.
Zhang, D., Shoemaker, P. J., & Wang, X. (2013). Reality and newsworthiness: Press coverage of international terrorism by China and the United States. Asian Journal of Communication , 23 (5), 449-471.
